My mother’s voice and the pierce of Dad’s whistle are what I remember. Singing old Australian bush songs with Dad out in the car, songs that I will teach to my own children decades later. Hearing my kids singing Camptown Races, The Long Long Trail and The Road to Gundagai shows the importance of the continuity of the small things and the passing down of memories from one generation to the next. Continue reading “Soundtracks of our lives”
A hint of cauliflower cheese, a cat and a Melbourne demon ( A sports report)
The Irish bar I’m in smells of cauliflower cheese and I’m about to start watching the Super Bowl in New York City. Continue reading “A hint of cauliflower cheese, a cat and a Melbourne demon ( A sports report)”
The hands of the hairdresser
We all have that special someone in our lives. Our partners, our children, our friends, and our pets. But for me, there is no more special person than my hairdresser. Continue reading “The hands of the hairdresser”
Christmas? Bah. Humbug. And yet…
I’m a holiday season phobic. Just call me Anti-Christmas or Scrooge. Continue reading “Christmas? Bah. Humbug. And yet…”
Coming home
The death knell of the holiday begins as the taxi from the airport takes the exit ramp on to Bell street.
Bravery, chickens and a wee bit of alt-country…..
My friends are always surprising and delighting me. It may be a discovery that we just share an unexpected love of a certain series of books. Yi-May and I were work colleagues. One day in the tearoom we discovered Continue reading “Bravery, chickens and a wee bit of alt-country…..”
A spoken menu, spices and tagines.
1977. Lebanon. Hana Assafiri looks out of an aeroplane window. Twenty hours and eight thousand miles away is her new home- the place where she was born.
2016. Melbourne. Hana Assafiri’s attention is being pulled every which way. We are sitting in her cafe The Moroccan Deli-cacy and our conversation is punctuated by multiple interactions that Assafiri has with her staff, ‘Get those plates in please, it’s not pigeons food’, and ‘Can you fix that spice display please – doesn’t look right’.
My reading life
It’s been a couple of weeks and not a blog post in sight. I’ve been indulging in the fine art of procrastination, plus I felt I had nothing to write about.
I’m studying an Associate Degree in Writing and Editing at RMIT, there had been a mountain of assessments and by the end of the semester, I was exhausted. I hibernated for a few days, didn’t pick up a pen and went nowhere near the computer. I was done, my slate had been wiped clean and instead of writing-I just wanted to read something other than my own work.
The journey to now
We all come from somewhere else. You might have to go a few generations back, but we are all immigrants. Continue reading “The journey to now”
Mates
Friends either come to us or they don’t. There’s no measure or formula about how some friendships survive and others fade away.
As a child, you believe that everyone is your friend—until they’re not. Primary school playgrounds are full of heartbreak, not due to severed romances, but because a bestie won’t play with, or talk to you. You share lunches, whisper secrets and have sleepovers. You stay up talking all night, trying on your mother’s makeup and giggling about boys in your class. Continue reading “Mates”
